The Idaho Supreme Court has dealt convicted killer James Hairston another setback in his bid to avoid the death penalty.

A judge sentenced Hairston, 29, to death in 1996 for his role in the robbery and murder of an elderly couple at their rural farmhouse near Downey. He has been waging a battle ever since in state and federal courts to have the sentence overturned.

During a January hearing before the Idaho Supreme Court, Hairston argued his sentence was unconstitutional and cited a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that concluded that death penalties should be imposed by juries rather than judges.

Hairston also claimed he was ill-served by his lawyers and asked the court to disqualify the judge who sentenced him, citing letters the judge wrote to the victims’ family that Hairston claimed showed partiality in the case.

But the justices rejected those claims and others.

The high court ruled that Hairston failed to raise the issues in a timely manner. The justices also concluded that the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision could not be applied to a case that had been decided six years earlier.

“The case was completed on direct appeal prior to (2002) … and therefore has no applicability to this case,” according to the 10-page ruling issued late last week.

Hairston, of Grand Junction, Colo., was sentenced to death at age 20 by 6th District Judge Peter McDermott and remains the youngest person on Idaho’s death row.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of William and Dalma Fuhriman, both 72, during a robbery at their farm in southeast Idaho. Hairston and accomplice Richard Klipfel got away with $30, a credit card and a saxophone.

After their arrest, Klipfel made a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to a life sentence without parole in exchange for testifying against Hairston.

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